As the value and use of information continues to increase, individuals and businesses seek additional ways to process and store information. One option available to users is information handling systems. An information handling system generally processes, compiles, stores, and/or communicates information or data for business, personal, or other purposes thereby allowing users to take advantage of the value of the information. Because technology and information handling needs and requirements vary between different users or applications, information handling systems may also vary regarding what information is handled, how the information is handled, how much information is processed, stored, or communicated, and how quickly and efficiently the information may be processed, stored, or communicated. The variations in information handling systems allow for information handling systems to be general or configured for a specific user or specific use such as financial transaction processing, airline reservations, enterprise data storage, or global communications. In addition, information handling systems may include a variety of hardware and software components that may be configured to process, store, and communicate information and may include one or more computer systems, data storage systems, and networking systems.
Portable information handling systems, such as laptop computers, may include portable power sources such as batteries. The batteries may be located inside the laptop computer and allow the computer to operate away from a power outlet. However, the capacity of an internal battery is limited by the size of the laptop computer. The desire for smaller and smaller laptop computers continues to reduce the capacity of the internal battery. External batteries may be used to provide an additional power source for a laptop computer to extend the duration of time that the laptop may be operated away from a power plug. One example external battery is illustrated in FIG. 1.
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an external battery and operation elements therein according to the prior art. An external battery 100 includes a battery 108 coupled to a port 102. The port 102 may be a barrel plug for connecting by barrel cable 122 to a laptop computer's direct current (DC) power input port. A current charge level of the battery 108 may be indicated by pressing a gas gauge button 110, which causes one or more of the status lights 112, 114, 116, and 118 to activate for a short time. For example, if the battery is approximately half charged, pressing the button 110 will activate status lights 112 and 114 for about five seconds. After five seconds the lights deactivate. The operation of the button 110 and lights 112, 114, 116, and 118 may be controlled by a controller 120 coupled to the battery 108 in parallel with the port 102.
Conventional external batteries for laptops either do not communicate information to the laptop computer or communicate very limited information, such as a power supply ID, for identification purposes. A user of the laptop computer will not know when the battery is approaching total discharge until the battery has exhausted, which may cause the laptop computer to turn off abruptly. Although the user can push the gas gauge button to examine the battery charge, the battery may not be easily accessible or the user may forget to occasionally check the status.